Two Nigerian men were extradited to the U.S. Sunday after they were indicted for allegedly sexually extorting teenage boys and young men across the United States and Nigeria.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten and Acting Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI in Michigan Devin Kowalski provided an update on the international “sextortion” ring involving 17-year-old Jordan DeMay from Marquette, Michigan and defendants from Nigeria.
Samuel Ogoshi, 22, and Samson Ogoshi, 20, of Lagos, Nigeria, were extradited to the United States from Nigeria to face prosecution after being indicted in May 2023, for sexually extorting numerous young men and teenage boys in the Western District of Michigan and across the United States.
Samuel Ogoshi was also charged with causing the death of 17-year-old Jordan DeMay of Marquette, Michigan, who was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in March 2022.
Nigerian authorities arrested the two men in Nigeria in January 2023, at the request of the United States. Nigerian prosecutors managed the extradition proceedings, on behalf of the United States.
“Sextortion is a horrible crime,” said Totten. “To those who commit these crimes: we will pursue you around the world. And to those who are victims: please know we stand ready to help you.”
Totten continued, “I am extremely pleased with how swiftly extradition efforts moved forward and am grateful to the FBI and our Nigerian law enforcement partners for their unyielding work to secure justice in this international sexual exploitation investigation.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, it’s anticipated that the extradited defendants’ initial appearance will take place Monday afternoon at the federal courthouse in Grand Rapids at a time to be determined by the court.
The two men were charged in a four-count indictment that included charges of conspiracy to sexually exploit minors, conspiracy to distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to commit stalking through the internet for engaging in the sextortion scheme.
The grand jury alleges that the defendants bought hacked social media accounts and used the accounts to pose as young women to lure teenage and young adult males into sexual chats.
One of the accounts used was an Instagram account bearing the username “dani.robertts,” which communicated with Jordan DeMay shortly before his death.
After initiating chat conversations with the victims, the defendants simultaneously used Google and other online applications to research information about the victims, including where the victims lived, where they went to school or worked, and who their family and friends were.
The grand jury alleges the defendants then solicited their victims to produce and send sexually explicit images of themselves. Once the defendants received sexually explicit images, they created collages that included the sexually explicit image alongside other images of the victims from social media, including images of the victims’ school, family and friends.
The defendants then threatened to disclose the collages to others including the family, friends and classmates of their victims via social media unless the victims paid money. The grand jury alleges the defendants engaged in this extortion and attempted extortion of more than 100 people.
The extradition of the third defendant, Ezekial Ejehem Robert, is still pending.
The charges in an indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
